Alice: Otherlands recruits legendary director Tsui Hark

American McGee's Kickstarter to acquire the film right to Alice in Wonderland has caught the attention of veteran film director Tsui Hark, who has agreed to join the Shanghai-based developer's effort in making this dream movie a reality.

Hark! Who goes there?

Hark has had a long and storied career having directed such action epics as Once Upon a Time in China, Time and Tide, and more recently Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Like the similarly Hong Kong-based John Woo, he's had some clunkers in his day - such as the Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman vehicle Double Team after a brief stint in the US - but by and large Hark remains a critically acclaimed director. Plus, which great action director didn't make a crappy action movie in the mid 90s? It was kind of hard to avoid then, I reckon.

"The madness and violence reveal the inner power of a teenager fighting in a hypocrite world of the adult villains. I can already see the impact of the story as a movie," said Hark in a Kickstarter update. "I'd be more than enthusiastic to participate in any effort to make it possible for Alice to come alive on the big screen. I'd join the team to make this project a wonderful success."

It's not clear if Hark will be directing or just producing. In fact, it's not clear if the movie will even get made at all as the Kickstarter will only be enough to fund some animated shorts to show what the team is capable of and hopefully work as a pitch video to a studio with some serious capital.

Unlike McGee's cancelled OZombie Kickstarter, this Alice: Otherlands campaign has been a success thus far. After only a week it's accrued $95,403 of its $200K goal with 13 days to go before its 4th August deadline. Ostensibly it will rake in a lot more with Hark's involvement.

To get a sense of the sort of thing Hark does, check out this rad trailer to his 2010 epic Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.